Nice To Meet You Shannon's First Day
by MrsMichaelSandrelli
Summary: Shannon Henry's first day at work. Rated T to be safe.
1. Leon

Shannon Henry walked nervously into her new station. She had no idea of what her new team mates would be like and she wanted to make a good impression. She had no idea that her first day would be so…eventful. She tried to recall the names of her new team. Brendan, Stella, Kerry, Lawson, Michael, Dominic, Leon and Zara.

First she went into the tea room but it was empty. She looked around, surveying the room, noting the placement of personal items etc. She turned and headed out of the room and into what she assumed was the bullpen. Once again she surveyed the area, noting the separate areas which were not visible to anyone but a trained officer.

She hears a noise coming from what she assumes is the control room and heads that way, interested to find out who is making the noise.

She opens the door and sees a young-ish looking man with, in her opinion, very bad taste in clothes and messy hair. His fingers are flying across the keys, rapidly typing something unknown to her, glancing at what seems to be dozens of screens all at once. He is wearing a headset and muttering stuff under his breath. Shannon stands there, mesmerized at all the monitors, wondering how on earth this man could watch so many different things all at once!

She continues to stand and watch until a voice interrupts her thoughts.

"You gonna stand there all day?" the voice said loudly, snapping her back to reality.

Shannon blinks and looks confused until the voice speaks again and she realizes that the man infront of her is the one doing the talking. Leon sized up the woman standing in front of him. He thought to himself "hmmm uniform, nice legs, hot body, great boobs…must be our new member Kerry was talking about last week."

Leon got up and walked over to her. He sticks out his hand. "I'm Leon Brosnic. I'm the intel officer here. Sooner or later you will meet the rest of the gang. Be careful of Josh, he's had a bad few weeks as have we all."

Shannon quickly shook his hand. "Shannon Henry, former AFP Forensic Specialist"

Leon grinned his usual lopsided grin and looked at her appraisingly.

But before he could open his mouth to say something smart, the door to Base crashed open which could only mean one person…or actually two, depending on the day.

Their voices could be heard even before they were seen. "Lawson, you do realize that "insensitive male chauvinist IS a job description and it's a wonder you haven't been picked!" came the strong female voice of Kerry Vincent. A male voice with the same strength as Kerry's answered her. "Kerry, did you actually have something interesting to say as well, because I honestly don't have anything to say back to that. I don't argue with ignorance so we're done here." He turned and walked into the bullpen, while Kerry continued on to her office.

From inside Leon's room, Shannon stifled a giggle. Leon grinned and whispered "that's normal for them!" He looked at his watch. 'The rest of the team should be here any moment, but maybe go and meet Ma and Pa first!" He turned back to his bank of monitors and resumed his intense scrutiny of them which to Shannon, signaled the end of their conversation. She left the room and headed down to the garage. Since she was already dressed in her uniform, she didn't feel out of place. She was walking past Lawson's office when he hailed her.


	2. Lawson

"Oi, who are you?" he said, noticing the tall red-head who looked slightly lost. He saw her turn and head towards his office door hesitantly. He beckoned her in, motioning vaguely to a chair.

Shannon sat down, well aware of the searching gaze that swept over her, assessing everything. Lawson took his time. He knew this was Grace's replacement and that Grace really was gone. He takes a moment to thoroughly assess the 'newbie'. He had read her file previously and knew a bit about her work history. Being that she was a former high-ranking AFP officer meant that he would have to tread carefully on cases, but apart from that she seemed like a nice person. While he was thinking, an awkward silence filled the room. Shannon, sensing that the man in front of her was not going to introduce himself, she made the first move by holding out her hand, which Lawson shook. "Shannon Henry, former AFP Forensics Specialist." Lawson grinned. "Lawson Blake, Senior Sergeant of this fine establishment known as Tactical Response." He said waving his arm around the room. Shannon relaxed a little, figuring that Lawson was not a bad bloke, but she did not want to get on his bad side too early. "You probably know why I'm here." Shannon said slowly, trying to gauge Lawson's reaction. She did not fail to miss the fleeting look of utter sadness that passed over Lawson's face. "Yeah, I do and I also know that you will fit right in, but be a little bit wary of Josh, that is Sergeant Brendan Joshua who we all call Josh, as he was in a relationship with the member you are replacing and her death hit him really hard. He may be a bit snappy with you to start, but since our Liaison Officer started working here, Josh has stopped being so reactive to any small problem, especially when she threatens him with a stapler!" Lawson chuckled quietly at the memory of Zara bailing Josh up against a wall, Josh who was twice as tall as Zara (which made it even more funnier) but had a look of pure fear on his face as the angry Liaison Officer took out her wrath on him for snapping at Michael over a simple accident.

Shannon had heard of that incident but the name of the Liaison Officer had so far eluded her and she was dying to find out who it was! Lawson stood up signalling an end to their impromptu meeting, held out his hand and said "Well now you have met me, you have to go and see the big cheese that is also known as Inspector Kerry Vincent. She runs TR like a prison! Seriously, some days, super max looks like a walk in the park!" Shannon giggled, already liking Lawson, shook his hand and left his office in search of Inspector Vincent.

Lawson sat back in his chair, the emotions of Grace's death plus the added strain of training a new team member clearly showing on his face. He missed Grace, how she would smile sweetly at everyone, how she would always be talking.

He was also worried about how Josh would react to Shannon. He knew that Zara would make him see sense, she always did anyway, and she knew about the history between Josh and Grace. Josh and Zara had been together now for about 3 weeks and even though they kept their work and private lives separate, he did catch Josh glancing now and again at Zara while she worked and smiling to himself, which to Lawson was a huge relief because shortly after Grace's death, Josh had pretty much blocked everyone out, preferring to wallow in his own grief and loss than let anyone else share it with him. When Zara had arrived, Josh had immediately resented her being there even though she was in no way, shape or form, replacing Grace and Josh knew that. He had tried every way to make it clear she was not welcome, but Zara, having been trained by Mossad and also ASIS, gave him back as good as he gave her. Lawson remembered one time Josh had pissed the former Mossad officer off one too many times. He had said something snide to her and she had literally stapled him to a wall and left him there. Everyone had found the situation hilarious, including Zara, who had refused to release him from the wall until he apologised which was not until the end of the day.

He sighed to himself. He knew instinctively that Shannon would take a bit of time to be accepted. He himself knew that he did not really want her to replace Grace. He shook his head. 'No, I have to give her a chance, she really wants this'. Lawson said to himself. He stood up and was about to head out to see whether the rest of the team had arrived, when he was halted by Shannon.

"Uh, Lawson?" Shannon said, standing in his doorway looking confused. "Yes Shannon?" Lawson said gently. Shannon looked embarrassed. "Um, where exactly is Inspector Vincent's office?"

Embarrassed himself, Lawson walks up to Shannon and stops next to her. "Come on, I'll show you." He said smiling. Shannon was slightly relieved that he was smiling because if he hadn't she would have been worried. She followed Lawson down the hall until he stopped at a door with the nameplate 'Inspector Vincent' engraved on it. He rapped on the door sharply, turned around and said "Wait here". Shannon felt nervous, Lawson's voice didn't help alleviate it. 'Is she, uh... Scary?' Lawson chuckled softly as the door swings open and Shannon saw who she assumed to be Inspector Kerry Vincent glare at the door to see who rudely interrupted her work.


	3. Kerry

Seeing an unknown officer standing in her doorway, Kerry was immediately suspicious.

"Who are you and why have you interrupted me?" she said, annoyed that Lawson was standing there smirking at her AND that a strange officer was standing there looking VERY nervous. Kerry raised her eyebrows, assessing the officer in much the same way that Lawson did. Shannon stood in the doorway, unsure of whether to go in or turn around and leave quickly. She was saved from either choice by Kerry rising up from behind her desk and ushered her into the room, closing the door on Lawson, still standing there smirking. 'Have a seat Shannon,' Kerry said, startling Shannon visibly.

Kerry saw the look on her face and chuckled. "I'm not as scary as Lawson probably told you I am" she said, smiling. Shannon relaxed. Kerry shuffled through papers, looking for Shannon's file. Shannon stared around the room with interest. 'Shannon Henry?' 'Yes that's me' Shannon said, trying not to look nervous, sitting there watching Kerry as she read her profile. "So, you worked for the Feds as a Forensic Specialist?" Kerry said evenly. Shannon's face grew suddenly cloudy. "Yes I did, the reason I left was because my partner of 5 years was killed and he was a Tactical Officer" she said, trying to keep her face unemotional. Kerry, who had already read the file and knew all about the relationship and the death of TO Grant Davies, didn't show any signal that she already knew. According to the file, Davies and Shannon had been together since they joined the Academy. She had also read that Davies was about to be promoted to TC (Tactical Captain) just before his death. Seeing Shannon looking upset, Kerry reaches out a hand and grasps Shannon's hand. Shannon is surprised at the sudden contact. "We lost a team member about 5 months ago so I know what you are going through." Kerry said softly. Shannon nods. "I know I am replacing Grace, but please do not think of me as her replacement, I know that the team will take some time to adjust to me being here, but I hope that I wont be labelled 'Grace's replacement'. It would make me feel second-rate." Shannon said softly. "I will make sure that it never happens." Kerry said quickly, knowing full well how the team would react. Kerry stood up, dropping the file on her desk. Shannon stands as well, shakes Kerry's proffered hand and waits while Kerry opens her office door. Kerry sticks her head out, spots Stella walking down the hall and calls out to her. "Hey, Stella! I have a job for you." Kerry said, motioning for Stella to join them in her office. Stella quickly hurries back up the corridor.

"What's up Kerry?" Stella said, looking curiously at the officer standing next to Kerry.

"Stella, this is Shannon Henry, our new TR officer. Would you please show her around?"

"Sure thing Kerry! Come on Shannon! You're gonna love it!" Stella says, happy to have another female on the team. Shannon looks somewhat stunned and Kerry laughs as Stella drags Shannon off to give her the tour.


	4. Stella

Stella raced down the corridor, dragging a now laughing and excited Shannon behind her to the locker room. Shannon immediately liked Stella and felt instinctively that they would be good friends. Stella looked at the tall red-head next to her. She definitely wasn't Grace, but she liked her. Shannon looked at Stella, noticing the happy Maltesian quietly scruitinising her once they got into the locker room.

"What?" Shannon asked, not wanting to seem rude, but wanting to know why she was being stared at.

Stella blushed and said "sorry, I was just thinking about how well you will fit in here! You seem so cool and confident, not at all like Grace, who by the way was sleeping with Josh for soooo long and none of us knew it until right before she died, which is like creepy and also Grace was married at the time so that's extra creepy."

Shannon just looked at Stella, a bemused expression crossing her face. She figured that Stella was the gossiper of the team but that she was also focussed and driven. She didn't hear Stella continue talking until she waved a hand in front of Shannon's face. "Hey anyone there?" Stella asked, laughing. Shannon quickly snapped back into reality. "Huh? Oh sorry, was just thinking" she said, smiling. Stella looked interested but continued her rant about Josh, Zara, Michael, Dom and everyone else. "Then Zara arrived and Josh hated her at first but now he's totally in love with her and she's much better for him than Grace ever was, like Zara's not married, she isn't blonde, she kicks butt better than anyone I've ever seen, she's an ace with a gun and her collection of knives is huge AND she is a former intelligence operative! Dom on the other hand, you will LOVE him, he's got the cutest baby at the moment! Her name is Gracie-Rose. Michael is my boyfriend and we've been together for ages! He so cute and funny and I love him to bits! Lawson and Kerry are cool, and we all secretly think they are seeing each other because they keep locking themselves in Kerry's office for "meetings". Leon is lovely but BADLY needs a haircut and new clothes! But yeah Josh is the one you have to be careful of because he is still touchy if you mention Grace, which is kinda fair enough but yeah she's dead and that is that. He is also the really tall guy with the scar on his face."

Shannon felt someone watching her and looked up to see the person that Stella just described looking directly at her. When she met his eyes Shannon saw Josh's pain clearly showing. As quietly as he had arrived, he turned silently and walked away. Shannon looked back down at Stella.

At that moment, Michael himself came running into the locker room looking worried and stressed, but as soon as he saw Stella, his frown became a huge smile and he relaxed. Stella turned to see who it was who had come in and was excited to see it was Michael.


	5. Michael

Michael gave Stella a hug then waited expectantly to be introduced. Stella, quick to pick up on Michael's curiosity, introduced Shannon. "Shan, this is my boyfriend Michael Sandrelli. Michael, this is Shannon, our new team member and Grace's replacement." Stella said, oblivious to the pained look that crossed over Shannon's face when she heard the word 'replacement'. Michael also looked pained and Stella immediately noticed it. She put her hand over her mouth. "Oh no I did it again! I'm sorry Michael!" she said honestly. Michael just shrugged and gave her another hug. Stella looked at her watch. "Oh crap I'm late to meet Josh and Zara! Got to go! Bye!" she said quickly and left the room. Shannon and Michael stood and stared at each other for a moment, neither knowing what to say and if they did say something, was it the right thing? Finally Shannon spoke. "Well that was interesting!" she said, keeping the tone of her voice light. Michael grinned. "Yeah well Stella does say some weird stuff at times" he said laughing. "So Shannon, tell me a bit more about you" Michael said, curiosity getting the better of him. Shannon could see he was genuinely interested in knowing about her past, so she told him. "Well I was born in Sydney, went to school, finished school, went to uni and did a Bachelor degree in Forensic Science. After that I went on to do a Masters in Forensics and from there I got hired by the AFP. I was there until your inspector requested a new team member and since I wanted to broaden my experience, I put my hand up." Shannon said. Michael was stunned. He had only met a few AFP officers because TR didn't really mix with the Feds, but he knew straight away that Shannon was different from the AFP officers he had met. "Well I think you should meet the rest of the team now! I hope Dom has arrived! You should see his baby! She's really cute!" Michael said happily. Shannon laughed at seeing his face light up at the mention of Dom's baby. Michael walked out of the locker room with Shannon following. On the way they passed a woman dressed in normal clothes. She looked preoccupied so they just stepped out of her way. Once they were past her, Michael whispered "That's Zara. She's our resident assassin." Shannon looked scared. Michael laughed and said "She's also Josh's girlfriend. They are very protective of each other so just don't say anything to annoy either of them. Oh and stay away from Zara when's she is angry and has a stapler in her hands. She's deadly with that thing! She was also with Mossad which is the Israeli Intelligence group and she also worked for ASIS. She came here as our Liaison Officer."

Shannon glanced back at the retreating form of the former Mossad agent and wondered why someone with that much experience and training would be working with a TR team. She made a mental note to find Zara and ask her that very question. But for now, she apparently had to meet Dom and his new daughter. As they entered the bullpen, Shannon once again felt those eyes on her. She glanced around quickly but saw no-one. She shook off the feeling and kept following Michael. Suddenly the main door to the bullpen swung open and Dom himself hurried in looking harried and worn. "Hey Dom! Come here for a minute!" Michael said, waving to Dom. When Dom stood in front of them, Michael did the introduction. "Dom, this is Shannon our new team member. Shannon this is our bomb expert, Dom." Dom and Shannon shook hands. Michael excused himself saying something about paperwork and left.


	6. Dom

"So you are our newest member?" Dom said curiously. Shannon nodded and replied "Yep sure am."

Dom grinned and said "welcome to the team. Most likely you will be with me, Stell and Michael. Lawson, Josh, Zara make up the other team. Leon is our resident geek and Zara only does specialized jobs. Don't ask me why coz even I don't know! But yeah, you should have no problems here. Just be wary of Josh, at the moment he's touchy because he sees you as a replacement for Grace, our team member who died recently. Even though he is with Zara who worked miracles with him in terms of his behaviour towards us as he was snappy and rude, he can still be a bit funny. Just don't say anything that might upset him. Zara's cool though, she's very approachable and social even though she doesn't seem like it. She is also very talented in many areas of police work including bombs and I have learnt a lot from her in that regards. But she does have a bad side and that only shows if someone threatens us or especially Josh. She and Josh are inseparable. If one leaves a room, the other will either follow or sit and stress, or if one is sick the other will constantly worry. Anyway enough about them. You probably want to know about me." Dom said laughing. Shannon grinned. "Sure why not!" she said. Dom smiled and continued. "Well obviously im the only married one on the team and I have a new daughter called Gracie-Rose." Dom whipped out his wallet and showed Shannon a pic of his daughter. Shannon, like most women who saw babies, reacted instinctively. "Oh how cute is she! Wow you and your wife are so lucky!" Shannon said honestly. Dom looked pleased and said so. "Yeah we are. Say, would you like to come over for dinner tonight and meet Sandy and Gracie-Rose?" Shannon looked ecstatic. "Definitely! I would love to!" she said excitedly. Dom once again looked pleased. "Excellent, say around 7pm?"

Shannon nodded enthusiastically. "Yep I will be there and I will bring the wine and a present." Dom looked taken aback. "Oh that is very kind of you but totally not necessary!" he exclaimed. Shannon shook her head. "No, no, I feel like I haven't contributed anything!" she said honestly. "You only just got here!" Dom said, trying to pacify Shannon. Shannon grinned at Dom, and he knew she was only teasing. He felt relief at that, but was grateful she was coming to dinner as it would be interesting to find out what life with the AFP was like and also forensics interested Dom immensely but he told no-one about it because he was afraid he would get laughed at, so he became a bomb disposal expert instead because he could still do forensics but dealt with bombs as well. "So, apart from being the bomb expert, what else do you specialize in?" Shannon asked. Just as Dom was about to answer, he was saved by a person entering the room. Suddenly the main door swung open and none other than Zara walked through. Seeing Zara, Dom called her over. The former Mossad agent, to Shannon, looked serene and calm, but from what Michael had told her, Zara was an expertly trained killer. Shannon smiled and hoped it didn't show that she was a little afraid of Zara. But she need not have worried. When Zara reached them she smiled a genuine smile which immediately put Shannon at ease. After Dom had introduced them and had left due to being called to a job, Zara and Shannon started chatting.


	7. Zara

Shannon looked at Zara. She was slightly hesitant, given the fact that Zara was a highly trained killer. Zara however, picked up immediately on Shannon's unease. "Hey, I'm not going to kill you." Zara said laughing. Shannon looked visibly relieved which made Zara laugh harder. "Sorry, the others must have made me out to be some kind of psycho killing machine!" Zara said, chuckling. Shannon grinned then nodded. Shannon then asked her the burning question she wanted to ask. "Just wondering, what made you decide to be transferred here? Surely someone with as much experience and training as you have would be better suited to an intelligence job?" Shannon held her breath, fearing she had annoyed Zara. Instead the ex-Mossad agent just laughed. "I came here because my skills are more useful here and also I was sick of working Intel. I am still a very high-ranking Mossad officer and have a reasonable rank within ASIS, but both agencies played down my skills and I became bored with schlep work." Shannon was amazed. She then dared to ask her about Josh. "So, everyone's been telling me about you and Josh…" she trailed off lamely. Zara's face took on a wistful look for a brief moment, and then she smiled and blushed. "Yes Josh. He really is one of a kind. He can seem a bit cold sometimes but that's just him. If he causes you any problems, come and tell me. I do not want him ruining your first day here; otherwise I will ruin HIM. Anyway yes we are together and he is my rock. I cannot live without him and I know he feels the same way about me." Zara got a faraway look on face for a split second, and then it was gone. "Sorry, I must be boring you with my mushy talk!" she said apologetically. Shannon shook her head. "No, of course not. When two people love each other as much as I can see you and Josh obviously do, then its only natural to get sentimental when mentioning them." She said.

Zara smiled. "So I hear you are a forensics specialist?" she said, curiously. Shannon nodded. "Yeah I trained with the AFP for 4 years." She said quickly. Zara looked impressed. "I've always wanted to work for the AFP but my skills are too high for me to be of any use to them." She said, looking disappointed. Shannon laughed. "Nah the AFP isn't all it's cracked up to be. You're better off here with Josh." Zara looked pleased. "You have to meet Josh eventually, but I suspect he's hiding because he knows that you being here means that he has to face the fact that Grace is truly gone and that life does go on after you lose a loved one. I should know. My now deceased husband was killed by a sniper." The last part saw a shadow of grief cross the pretty agent's face. Shannon put her arm around Zara. "My former husband was also killed by a sniper. He was an army captain." Zara looked at Shannon, sympathy clearly showing on her face, glad that someone could relate to her past. Shannon and Zara hugged for a brief minute. In that moment, they became best friends, united by their shared past. Just at that moment, who should show up, but Josh, the one person Shannon had not met yet. Seeing the scene before him, Josh thought about backing out of the room, but Zara's voice stopped him. He loved her more than anything else in the world and he had heard what she said about her past. He fell in love with her again. And in that moment, he also privately acknowledged Shannon as the new member and laid Grace and those memories to rest. "Josh, I know you are there, try and run and the stapler will get its revenge" Zara said without turning around. She and Shannon separated and she led Shannon to meet Josh.


	8. Josh

At first glance, Josh did not think Shannon was much of anything, but seeing her with Zara made Josh take a second look. He knew that she was not Grace, but she was someone with new ideas and goals and he felt a sense of duty to make sure that she fit in.

He mentally cursed Zara for making him lose his 'cool image' or what HE thought was a 'cool image'. In his mind, he was the tough copper by day but inside he was the grieving brother and lover. Until Zara came along, he had wallowed in his grief and loss, hadn't eaten or slept and his work suffered. When Zara had arrived, she had taken him under her wing and made him talk through all his emotions without protest. That was when she had made him realize that there was love and life after Grace. That was when he allowed himself to fall for Zara. The beautiful yet deadly former Mossad assassin who could pick locks so quickly he barely had time to blink and whose use of a stapler as a weapon actually scared him. She was also very very good with guns and knives, often scaring him when a knife suddenly embedded itself into the partition in front of him without warning. He would look to see where she was but could never find her, only hear her soft laughter. He thought back to that stapler incident. He was in a bad mood that day and was walking back to the bullpen after a particularly trying shift and Zara had said something to him and he had been particularly rude to her, given the fact she had only been at base for three days. He remembered with guilt how that conversation had panned out and how he had been left _literally_ hanging.

"So Josh, are you going home tonight or do you need somewhere to stay" Zara had asked him innocently. He had turned on her with such ferocity that the rest of the team dashed for cover. He had shoved her up against a wall, his face lacking all expression, yet his narrowed eyes betrayed his fury. He had told her in a deadly voice "NEVER mock me again, you got that Mellerton? Coz I hate people who mock me. You know all about Grace and everything I went through and am still going through and you MOCK me?! You need to get a real life and stop living mine." With that he shoved her away roughly not caring whether she hurt herself or not. Looking back, he should have seen it coming. He knew it was wrong to take out his anger on the one person who cared deeply for him but at that moment he was too caught up in his own depression to care. What came next shocked him deeply. One minute he was facing the wall, the next he was spun around and a VERY angry Zara was staring him in the face. Her expression reeked of murder. He knew how dangerous she could be and that her temper did get the better of her some times, but he also knew he was in serious trouble. "You will wish you had never spoken to me like that" she had said, her voice dangerously quiet. In a matter of minutes, she had grabbed the first thing she could see, being a stapler and had stapled him to the wall. He had been so surprised that all his anger had faded and quickly replace with shock. And what made it worse was that after she had put the last staple in, she walked off completely ignoring his protests and had left him there until the end of the second shift when she had only release him when he apologised profusely and meant it. After that, Josh had massive respect for Zara and learnt very quickly that she was nothing like Grace and he found that attractive because he didn't like to be reminded about Grace.

He also remembered their first kiss. Funny enough it was on Valentines Day. He was rummaging through his Christmas decorations from years ago that he had never bothered to throw out, yet since Zara had never had a proper Christmas since she was little, he decided to go through them and make this years Christmas special for her. He had found some fake mistletoe in with all the decorations and had taken it downstairs with him after he had finished rummaging and sorting. He had glanced at the calendar that day and noticed that it was Valentines Day. He had planned to take Zara out to dinner and also ask her out at the same time. He had the restaurant all booked, his black suit freshly dry-cleaned and hanging up, his shoes polished and clean socks and underwear laid out on his bed as well as a crisp, white shirt hung next to his suit. Since it was a very high class restaurant, the dress code was formal. He wondered what Zara would wear, He imagined her in an emerald green floor length backless dress with a halter neck and a hem that swept the floor. Snapping back to reality, he had looked at the mistletoe in his hand and had on impulse hung it above his front door. Later that evening, Zara had arrived and the dress she wore made his jaw drop. She looked absolutely breath-taking in a sweeping ebony backless dress with gold embroidery on the bodice and a strip of gold material peeked through the train of the dress at the back. She had her hair up with stray waves framing her face and simple jewelry consisting of a gold and onyx choker, gold and onyx ring and a beautiful gold onyx and diamond bracelet. She also wore small diamond drop earrings and her makeup was not only flawless but accentuated her natural beauty even more. He had pointed to the mistletoe, hoping to steal a kiss but she had realized his intentions and told him that mistletoe was for Christmas not Valentine's Day, yet he would still get his kiss. He had blushed which was very unusual for Josh, practically never heard of, and she had laughed. After dinner, they were walking back up the front path to his house when it had begun to snow. Josh had seized the opportunity when the flakes started to fall faster, to gently pull her towards him, tilt her face towards him and whisper "I love you" before kissing her softly to begin with, yet it turned passionate very quickly and they stood in the middle of Josh's front yard holding onto each other, neither wanting to pull away. The rest of the night had been a blur, yet he remembered that kiss as clear as day. Josh suddenly snapped back to reality when he realized he was blushing and Shannon was laughing at him as was Zara. "Thinking about snow again Josh" Zara grinned seeing the recognizable look on his face.

Josh laughed and looked at Shannon. He walked over with his hand out. "I'm Josh. I'm glad you are here Shannon because we really need a balance here and I'm sure that you will fit right in with us. I do not know what the others told you but I'm hoping it was not to stay away from me because if it is, they will hear about it. Any time you need help or are in trouble, call either Zara or I. I heard about what happened to your husband and it seems that we three are united in a common tragedy, that we all lost someone we care about, but we found each other and that should make us stronger. I'm sorry I haven't approached you sooner, but I just did not know what to say and you also seemed caught up in being introduced and dragged around like a show pony that I felt it rude to intervene and save you. I should have done it sooner but I also had some personal issues to deal with and now they have been dealt with I feel free. Welcome to the team Shannon." Shannon shook his hand, grateful for his honesty and feeling like she had been truly accepted into her new team.


	9. Shannon

Later that night, after a lovely dinner with Dom and Sandy and Gracie-Rose, Shannon found herself lying in her bed in the dark just remembering her first day and the feelings that she had experienced were only positive. She was thankful that everyone had accepted her in one way or another. She, Zara and Josh had become firm friends after that Dom even nicknaming them the Three Musketeers with one being deadly (which had earned him a mocking glare from Zara yet Josh had cracked up laughing until she had waved a stapler at him then had burst out laughing when his face changed from laughter to fear. He had then started laughing which set everyone off including Shannon. The rest of that day had been filled with laughter and joking around.

"It was nice to meet you all today" she had said to a resound chorus of 'hear hear' from the rest of the team.

For once in her life, Shannon felt welcomed and included and to her it was the best feeling in the world. And with that thought and a happy smile on her face, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
